Sam Allardyce has lifted Everton to ninth in the Premier League and José Mourinho’s Manchester United sit second but Pep Guardiola has altered fans’ expectationsAfter five minutes of Brighton’s game at Goodison Park on Saturday with the score at 0-0, a passionate and extremely vocal Evertonian took the opportunity to run to within five yards of the dugout I was sitting in and vent his anger and frustration by screaming “Get out of my fucking club” directly at Sam Allardyce – the man who, in my opinion, has successfully done the job required and expected of him. The Everton manager has stabilised a huge club that had lost its way to the point where relegation was a distinct possibility based...
Manchester United’s exit to Sevilla showed their manager’s methods, built around solidity and defensive control, no longer work against the best teams in EuropeThere was a slightly ghostly moment in the second half at Old Trafford as Manchester United were euthanised from the Champions League knockout stages, a sense of worlds colliding, timelines crossed.Wissam Ben Yedder had just eased the ball into the corner of David de Gea’s net to make the score 1-0 on the night. As the Sevilla players romped in front of their away support and the Spanish radio commentator broke out of his “gol, gol” chant to shout “ON FIRE ON FIRE” a wiry black-clad figure could be seen sprinting down the touchline, fists pumping. Related:...
There are several reasons why there is gloom at Manchester United while Liverpool, two points behind, are borne on a swirl of positivity – but entertainment is a fundamental oneThe Premier League table does not lie but the truths it offers can sometimes feel bewildering. How can it be that Manchester United, after this season of gripe and gloom, lie second, nine points clear of the defending champions? How can there be such a fug of insecurity and compensatory self-assertion about their every game when Liverpool, two points behind, are borne on a swirl of positivity?Largely, of course, it is an issue of perception and starting points. Liverpool fans, 28 years after their last league title, are understandably more enthused by...
Manchester United’s manager finally finds himself in the right TV chair and after four days with RT at the start of Russia 2018, he will phone in his thoughts on the finalHaving seen José Mourinho slumped at a desk at Selhurst Park on Monday evening, looking as if he had been stuck on a coach for 72 hours at Dieppe, imagine my surprise when I got home and logged on to the RT YouTube channel. Yes, there he was, the Manchester United manager, clean shaven, in a fashionable fleece, and – could it really be – actually smiling. “Drop the cliché,” he joked as the voiceover announced The Special One was joining the channel as a World Cup pundit. The...
The Sevilla stalemate drew mention of betraying United’s identity. José Mourinho is entitled to play the way he believes will get results but football should be about more than successSome Manchester United fans saw a wonderful game in Seville, it just wasn’t the one their team played in. A handful of supporters made the most of their team’s Champions League match, travelling to Spain early, and on Sunday they were at the Benito Villamarín with 50,000 others to see Real Betis lose 5-3 to Real Madrid. Three days later and three-and-a-half kilometres away they were among the 40,000 who watched United draw 0-0 at the Sánchez Pizjuán, on a night when their team had one shot on target.There is something...